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Oct. 18, 2018 - White Cane Safety Day, 2018
This year's North Texas' White Cane Safety Day celebration took place at the Fort Worth Stockyards on October 18. A group of Plano ISD blind and visually impaired students, certified teachers of the visually impaired and orientation and mobility specialists took a chartered bus to theStockyards to participate in the celebration. White Cane Safety Day is a day of recognition and celebration of the many achievements of people who are blind or visually impaired. It showcases the white cane, which is a tool of independence and symbol of blindness. This year's theme was The Next Frontier.
Students participated in an expanded core curriculum event using their vision and mobility skills to walk through the Stockyards. Students, their peers, and adult cane users took part in activities to raise awareness of the importance of the white cane for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. The students traveled around to hear individuals with visual impairments speak about their guide dogs and how they use technology to navigate their environment.
Row 1: Ling Pan, teacher; Paige Morra, teacher; Manal Faraz; Cash Williams; Krishangi Shroff; LeeAntwon Wilson; Reese West; and Ann Rose, orientation mobility specialist. Row 2: Ethan Bowling; Victoria Bettencourt, deaf/blind intervener; Anu Adeola; Susan Breeding; Monica Livigni; Louise Gannon, teacher; Fernando Aguilar; James Kadlecek, orientation mobility specialist; Steven Ly; Stephanie Mylonas; Carol Rimka, teacher; Mariano Ramirez; Melissa DeBuigney; Stephanie Mowery, teacher.
About White Cane Day
On October 15 White Cane Day is observed around the world. In the United States White Cane Day came about after The National Federation of the Blind assembled on the July 6, 1963 to call upon the governors of the fifty states to proclaim October 15 of each year as White Cane Safety Day in each of our fifty states. On October 6, 1964, a joint resolution of the Congress, HR 753, was signed into law authorizing the President of the United States to proclaim October 15 of each year as "White Cane Safety Day." This resolution said: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives," that the President is hereby authorized to issue annually a proclamation designating October 15 as White Cane Safety Day and calling upon the people of the United States to observe such a day with appropriate ceremonies and activities."